ΑΓΑΜΕΜΝΩΝ THE WATCHMAN S SPEECH

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1 ΑΓΑΜΕΜΝΩΝ The effect of Greek dramatic literature was many-sided so far as it concerns the various ways in which it indirectly affected medieval thought. The pilgrim fathers of the scientific imagination as it exists today are the great tragedians of ancient Athens, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides. Their vision of fate, remorseless and indifferent, urging a tragic incident to its inevitable issue, is the vision possessed by science. Fate in Greek tragedy becomes the order of nature in modern thought. A. N. Whitehead, Science and the Modern World THE WATCHMAN S SPEECH 1. Lines 38-9 Let us begin with the words that close the Watchman s speech, the opening speech of the play: ως εκων εγω/ μαϑουσιν αυδω κου μαϑουσι ληϑομαι ( My words intentionally speak to the initiated, and pass by the uninitiated. ). This recalls Jesus words in the deeply esoteric Gnostic Gospel of St. Thomas: Whoever has ears to hear should hear. Aischylos may explicitly be indicating that we should seek esoteric content in the words that have gone before. What might this content be? 2. Lines1-7 To return to the opening of the speech. The Watchman is complaining of his year-long vigil on the roofs of Argos. The word αγκαϑεν has provoked much debate. Deniston and Page noted that αγκαϑεν as used in Eumenides 80 its only other occurrence in Aischylos means in your arms, in the context of holding an image in the arms; while Hermann specified that αγκων means not only the elbow but the crook of the arm within the elbow. Aischylos qualifies αγκαϑεν with κυνος δικην, dog-like. Fraenkel interprets it thus: The Watchman (like the watchdog) lies as it were thrust forward into his arms, with the upper part of his body between them. Fraenkel goes on to quote Maguire: the watchman is lying flat on his elbows, and in this position he is like a dog in the act of watching some particular object with his head on his paws. In this position Watchman with the least trouble has the widest look-out.... The simile is exact both in attitude and purpose, as both the man and the dog are watching, and have their heads between their forelimbs Certainly; but we may also imagine the dog propped on his forelegs, with his head raised in alertness. The image that now is irresistibly brought to mind bearing in mind our hypothesis as to the esoteric nature of Agamemnon is the Sphinx, which has stared out through millenia in silence from the Egyptian Gaza precinct at the skies. Fraenkel acutely notes that κοιμωμενος is almost the

2 antithesis of ϕρουρα, and the combination of the two is a kind of oxymoron, like νυκτιπλανκτος ευνη in 12, 13. The customary meaining of κοιμασϑαι is to sleep. Dennistion and Page deny that this is its sense here, preferring to interpret the Watchman as lying abed without sleeping ; but sleeping would on the contrary be a participle highly appropriate to the Sphinx. The second of Fraenkel s oxymora can similarly be explained, as we shall see. Just as the Sphinx, the Watchman knows αστρων... νυκτερων ομηγυριν και τους ϕεροντας χειμα και ϑερος βροτοις λαμπρους δυναστας, εμπρεποντας αιϑερι... Λαμπρους δυναστας has been read as referring to the constellations, the observation of the night skies having been of course the key method in the ancient world of judging the timing of seasons. However, along with the constellations, the heliacal risings of the great stars also performed this function, the most notable being the heliacal rising of Sirius in Egypt in July, which marked the beginning of the Egyptian calendar, and of the inundation of the Nile, the success or failure of which meant prosperity or famine in the coming year. Δυναστης of course would aptly describe Regulus; and it is of the highest relevance here that the Persians named Regulus as one of their four Royal stars, along with Aldebaran, Antares, and Fomalhaut, the dominance of which in the night sky being the basis of their rudimentary calendar, as markers of the seasons (Aldebaran at vernal equinox, Regulus at summer solstice, Antares at autumnal equinox, Fomalhaut at winter solstice). The Royal stars were mentioned by Zoroaster (c. 628 c. 551 BCE). Wilamowicz was on the right track: sirium, arcturum, pliadas dicit. 3. Lines 8-11 Aischylos use of the phrase λαμπαδος το συμβολον is suggestive if inconclusive evidence, the beacon-blaze being a token of the fall of Troy, and equally a symbol of Regulus. Here we come to the first expression of an abiding theme of the Oresteia as allegory, namely the supersession of the old night-gazing Goddess-oriented religions of Egypt and the Near and Middle East by the Athenian Apollonian miracle. In ωδε γαρ κρατει/ γυναικος ανδροβουλον ελπιζον κεαρ the word γυναικος has been taken as referring as Clytemnaestra. However, it should be read in terms of the allegory as meaning the Great Goddess. It is a woman who rules; and her heart is dominant like a man s, and fanciful. There is note of contempt here: on the Watchman s part, on the literal plane, for Clytemnestra; on Aischylos part, on the plane of allegory, for the Goddessdominated world of old, which he had helped defeat, physically, on the plain of Marathon, and now continued to combat, philosophically and dramatically, in the Oresteia. 4. Lines The Watchman describes how he cannot allow himself to drift off into sleep, evoking as he does two aspects of that notional sleep, namely its dreams, and its everlastingness: ευτ αν δε νυκτιπλαγκτον ενδροσον τ εχω ευνην ονειροις ουκ επισκοπουμενην εμην, ϕοβος γαρ ανϑ υπνου παραστατει, το μη βεβαιως βλεϕαρα συμβαλειν υπνωι.

3 Fraenkel notes that νυκτιπλαγκτον ευνην is almost an oxymoron. How can the Watchman be nightwandering when he is lying down like a dog? Both νυκτιπλαγκτον and επισκοπουμενην (it is notable that the dreams would appear from above, rather than from within) serve to evoke, in truth, in the mind of the connoscento, a picture of the night sky with its ever-revolving company of stars, constellations, and planets, the dedicated and precise observation of which over tens of millenia was a preoccupation of the pre-hellenic world. The Watchman/Sphinx does indeed wander relative to the motion of the skies. The Watchman of course remains awake, never descending into the sleep of which he speaks. However, it is enough for the allegory that his words suggest a picture of the Sphinx in its eternal repose. 5. Lines Αειδειν η μινυρεςϑαι Does not hum seem supererogatory here? Sing would surely have been enough to make the point. The interpretation of sing and hum which would be wholly consistent with the allegory is that they are a reference to the Music of the Spheres. The situation could be that Aischylos wanted to use μινυρεσϑαι alone, the better to describe the wordlessness of the Music of the Spheres, but felt constrained to add αειδειν in the interests of plausibility on the literal plane. The Music of the Spheres was a Pythagorean concept, and we might expect the Watchman, if our theory of the astronomical allegory of Agamemnon is correct, to express unease about its evocation here. In fact, if he did not, the inconsistency of its mention would deal the theory a severe blow. Yet in the following words, which the literal plane demands to refer to Clytemnestra s unfaithfulness, the Watchman expresses precisely the discomfort which the allegory would demand: κλαιω τοτ οικου τουδε συμϕοραν στενων,/ ουχ ως τα προσϑ αριστα διαπονουμενου ( I weep and groan for the events that have overtaken this house,/ since its standards of conduct have fallen so far from the past ). It is notable that he does not specify here what those events might be. There could hardly be a more apt reproof given by a traditionalist to a fad of the present. 6. Lines Here is a most important piece of evidence. The Watchman signals sharply to Clytemnestra to rise from her bed and begin the cries of jubilation in the city. The word which Aischylos chose to describe her rising has provoked much comment. Επαντελλειν (27) has the primary meaning of to rise like a heavenly body. The scholia has ὡς ἐπί ἄστρον ἤ σελήνης ; but Denniston disapproved: but it is a disagreeable conceit, that Clytemnestra should be asked to rise like the stars or the moon. Fraenkel judged it likewise: Similarly here it is quite arbitrary to suppose an astronomical sense. In Aeschylus this sense is not inseparable from the word, as may be seen from Cho. 282, where ἐπαντέλλειν is used just like ἀντέλλειν in Sept I cannot therefore agree with Keck: the queen is, so to speak, the sun rising upon the house, [and] Headlam: εὐνῆς ἐπαντ. is a reverent phrase, suggested by a comparison with the rising of the sun or stars, [and] A.S.F. Gow, Journ. Hell. Stud. xlviii, 1928, 137 n. 12, who renders it dawns... In this passage, when the λαμπτήρ has just been addressed as νυκτὸς ἡμερήσιον ϕάος πιϕαύσκων, it would be most inappropriate in the next breath to compare the queen with the rising sun. Verrall, though, was content to make the point anent ἐπορϑριάζειν : to sing as a morning song (ὄρϑριος), pursuing the train of thought suggested by ἡμερήσιον ϕάος, ἐπαντείλεσαν etc... Keck, Headlam, Gow, and Verrall, then all mention the sun in connexion with the Watchman s ἐπαντείλεσαν. In fact, this would be just what the allegory as we have outlined it would demand, for Clytemnestra is indeed in this scheme the dawning sun, soon to engulf Regulus to give the

4 impression that the Royal star has swelled to solar size (Aegisthos = star fully engulfed by sun) on this one astonishing day of the year, of its heliacal rising. Επαντελλειν is perhaps not the perfect word in a poetic sense here, on the literal plane, but it was close enough for Aischylos to use it, without jarring, to suggest the solar identification of the queen. 7. Lines τὰ δεσποτῶν γὰρ εὖ πεσόντα ϴήσομαι τρὶς ἓξ βαλούσης τῆσδέ μοι ϕρυκτορίας The dice metaphor is an unusual one: The fortune that has fallen well for the leaders I will score also as my own, the beacon having cast a treble six for me. Agamemnon s good fortune is in making his way safely home, the Watchman s in now being released from his task. Yet for those aware of the significance of the die symbol in the ancient astronomy, a deeper possibility offers itself. Santillana and Dechend produce much evidence for the Rig Vedas important place among the urmyths, secreting an astronomical dimension, from which much of later world myth evolved. For example, the number of stanzas in the Rig Vedas is 10,800; the number of syllables, 432,000. The former quantity, together with the number 108, occurs insistently in Indian tradition; and it is also the number which Heraclitus gave for the duration of the Aiōn, according to Censorinus (De die natali 18). The Mahabharata gives 4,320,000 years as the total span of the cosmic cycle of four world ages, while 432,000 is exactly the number of warriors that issue from Valhalla on the final day in the Icelandic Eddas, as well as the total number of years lived by the kings in the list of Berossos, the Babylonian poet who wrote in Alexandria in the 3 rd century BCE. 25,900 years is the length of one complete precessional cycle; and this number divided by 60 (the Sumerian soss, the basis of their sexagesimal system, which we still use to measure circles and time) is equal to 432. There is a vast web of such correspondences in the literatures of the ancient world, which ultimately point to the science of the precession of the equinoxes at their heart. In the Rig Vedas, the gods themselves are said to go around like ayas, that is, casts of dice... [and in RV ] the dice are called vrata, i.e., an organized gang under a king The name of the Indian world-ages has been taken from the idiom of dicing. Further, throwing of the dice was associated with movement of the pieces in several types of proto-chess: Thus, the dice forced the hands of the chess player a game called planetary battles by the Indians, and in 16 th century Europe still called Celestial War, or Astrologer s Game, whereas the Chinese chessboard shows the Milky Way dividing the two camps. 2 The principle underlying games of this sort is most plausibly that the pieces on the board represent the great stars and constellations, which change their positions according to the rules of precession, which is governed by number (the dice). Einstein seems to have had an uncanny awareness of this, as evdienced by his statement that God does not play dice with the universe. Fraenkel is indeed certain that the reference is to this kind of game: 1 Giorgio de Santillana and Hilda von Dechend, Hamlet s Mill (David R Godine, Boston, 1977), Ibid, 161-2

5 The reference is to the game (or perhaps more correctly to one of the group of games...) which consists in a combination of dice-throwing and board-game: the two players move their counters on a board, but the extent of each is determined by a previous casting of the dice. It would be wholy consistent with the allegory outlined here if the dice of lines indicated as symbol the principle of stellar kingship. Finally, we should note that Aischylos does not say leader in the singular (and only one king has made his way home), or my leader(s), but simply the leaders : which we might expect if he had been intending primarily to portray a scene of the night sky, with its company stars of a high magnitude of brightness. Later, in the death scene of the king, we shall note the specifically astronomical symbolism of the net (αμϕιβληστρον) in the ancient world. 8. Lines γένοιτω δ οὖν μολόντος εὐϕιλῆ χέρα ἄνακτος οἴκων τῇδε βαστάσαι χερί. And so may it befall me to uphold the welcome hand of the approaching king of the city in this my hand. Βαστάζειν (aor. inf. βαστάσαι) bears the meanings to lift, lift up, raise... to bear, carry support... to hold in one s hands. Thus Fraenkel: βαστάζειν means not a desultory touching, grasping, or taking hold of an object (here of the hand and forearm) but the holding and poising of it, e.g. for careful examination, as in Homer ϕ 405 ἐπεὶ μέγα τόξον ἐβάστασε καὶ ἴδε πάντηι... This is not the same as shaking hands... Yet Fraenkel still does not find a place for the uplifting quality of the verb. Aischylos is inviting us to imagine the Watchman holding up the king s hand before him, in a prolonged and deliberate way, which yet does not seem quite right. However, βαστάζειν would in truth be perfectly fitted poetically to describe the slow rising of Regulus before and over the outstretched paws of the Sphinx. Again, the word Aischylos chose was not the ideal choice on the literal plane, but was close enough to enable its use to portray the scene on the plane of allegory without jarring the sensibilities of the audience. 9. Lines τὰ δ ἄλλα σιγῶ, βοῦς ἐπὶ γλώσση μέγας βέβηκεν οἶκος δ αὐτός, εἰ ϕϑογγὴν λάβοι, σαϕέστατ ἄν λέξειεν ὡς ἑκὼν ἐγὼ μαϑοῦσιν αὐδῶ κοὐ μαϑοῦσι λήϑομαι. For the rest I am silent, a great ox stands on my tongue. As for this house, if it had speech it would speak plainly. Intentionally I speak to the initiated and the to the uninitiated say nothing. All of these three concluding sentences are clearly wholly consistent with the allegory outined here: the silence being of course a characteristic of the Sphinx; the tale secreted in the house being the identification of Regulus and the beacon; the Watchman s last words being an indication last words that he has speaking for those in the know.

6 CHORUS OF ELDERS 10. Lines Aischylos first task was to identify the beacon announcing the fall of Troy with Regulus; and this he accomplished in the Watchman s speech. His second task was now to identify the returning king Agamemon with that same star; and to this end he returns the action to square one, to reset the allegory. This chorus is the longest in Greek tragedy, extending all the way to Clytemnestra s entrance at 276. In what way did Aischylos intend it to serve the allegory? Its significance lies and this may be a barrier to those used to the traditional approach to the drama not in what the Elders actually say, but rather in the symbolism of the duration of their speech, and of their mere presence on stage: for there can be no doubt at all that they represent the immensely ancient visible bodies stars and constellations and planets of the night sky. Dawn is approaching however, on the plane of allegory as well as of the action; and we shall now see how Aischylos approached its description as allegory. The Chorus pays homage to the queen, who is now evidently visible: ἥκω σεβίζων σόν, Κλυταιμήστρα, κρατος ( I am come to honour your sovereignty, O Clytemnestra ). These words are not wholly consistent with the sense implied, that the Chorus were in fact responding to an order from the queen. Fraenkel takes up this point: The coryphaeus says politely: I am come here to show my respect for your sovereignty. He does not say outright: because you have given orders that we should appear here in front of the palace, but that is probably the sense of the words... It is a natural assumption that Clytemnestra sent round a messenger to inform the Elders that she wished to see them and give them information at the same time as she made arrangements for the offering of sacrifices in the town (87 ff.). This assumption is not contradicted by the words (263) οὐδέ σιγώσει ϕϑόνος, which need be nothing more than an expression of especial politeness. The assumption that the old men appeared of their own volition to ask the reason for the sacrifice in the town which the queen has decreed is less probable, if not actually impossible. In this case also the sense of 258 would be: Your κρατος (i.e. your royal position, in virtue of which you have ordained the sacrifices) has caused my coming. Here then is yet another instance of a disharmony on the literal plane, which is on the other hand thoroughly harmonious on the plane of allegory. For the words as the playwright has written them are wholly appropriate to a description of the stars of the night sky paying homage to the dawning sun. Five lines on is another inconsistency. The queen on the literal plane has drawn the Elders here by order, to hear her announcement. Yet here they admit the possiblity of her silence: κλύοιμ ἄν εὔϕρων: ὀυδὲ σιγώσῃ ϕϑονος ( then graciously let us hear; or with no ill will if you remain silent ) (275). Yet silence is of course a quaility of the sun; and Clytemnestra will go on to remain silent throughout a large portion of the consequent speeches: an absence over which much critical ink has been spilt, yet which is entirely consistent with her role in the allegory. Notable here is the fact that the coryphaeus does not say or if you remain silent : but it is almost as if her speech and her silence are one and the same, which is impossible on the plane of the literal drama, but correct on the plane of Aischylos true intention.

7 EPEISODION I 11. Lines The significance of this episode is to be found, again, in the duration of speeches and the presence of the queen on the stage. Clytemnestra s physical appearance on stage, for the first time here, portrays as allegory the false dawn, when the night sky lightens somewhat as the dawning sun approaches the horizon, but before it has actually begun to peep above it. This interpretation is entirely consistent with the sequence of the action, for we know that in the episode to follow the Herald will represent the aura of Regulus as it first becomes visible prior to the dawning of the star itself (arrival of Agamemnon). Clytemnestra begins with a four line speech announcing her arrival. There follows a dialogue with the chorus, where they exchange single lines over a span of thirteen lines in all. This paints as allegory the ever-so-gradual interpenetration of the luminous bodies of the night sky by the rays of the sun, which is yet to dawn. Aischylos will employ precisely the same technique to describe the appearance of the first premonitory rays of the as yet invisible Regulus (543-55). This need not be the precise moment of dawning on the literal plane we might expect the king s arrival rather to coincide with it yet Clytemnestra does indeed, significantly for the allegory, make this identification in her τῆς νῦν τεκούσης ϕῶς τόδ εὐϕρόνης λέγω. The queen now describes for the chorus the transmission of the signal flame from one beacon to another, beginning at Mt. Ida in Troy, and ending at Mt. Arachneus, visible from Argos. On the plane of allegory, however, the beacons of course blaze contemporaneously, for they represent stars of the night sky. This gives a beautiful explanation to a line which has puzzled the commentators: νικᾳ δ ὁ πρῶτος καὶ τελευταῖος δραμών. ( He wins who runs first and last ). The Chorus now intermit the two longer speeches of Clytemnestra with a short three-line expression of wonder, and a plea to her to go into more detail about the beacons. The brevity of their interjection indicates that the false dawn is now established. Interestingly, Clytemnestra now makes no attempt whatsoever to answer their request. Wherever there is such a nonsequitur or awkwardness on the literal plane we look toward the allegory for enlightenment. Aischylos clearly intended the queen s choice of subject to suggest that the primary significance of her speech does not reside in the plane of action. STASIMON I 12. Lines This is again a long speech by the Chorus. It precedes the arrival of the Herald just as the opening anapests and parodos preceded the first appearance of the queen, and its purpose is the same, to suggest the steady immensity of the night sky with its company of luminous bodies. Fraenkel makes an important observation anent the epode which closes this stasimon, which yet has broader relevance for the Oresteia. (We have noted it already in the Watchman s speech, 11). So

8 many times Aischylos has the opportunity to use the name Clytemnestra, yet substitutes instead a non-specific noun: The language of the old citizens is here very acrimonious: the fact that they never say Clytemnestra or the queen outright, but speak, in thinly veiled langauge like a malcontent though powerless opposition, about woman s government, woman s orders which are willingly accepted, and woman s speech, makes their words none the more innocent. Everything is tuned to one and the same note ; the repetition at such close intervals of γυναικός, ϑῆλυς, γυναικογήρυτον, and the pointed antitheses all serve to express passionate disapproval. Passionate disapproval indeed, of the Elders here, but ultimately of Aischylos for the nightworshipping Goddess-dominated religions of Egypt, the Near East, and Persia. There is still a further problem with this epode, for which the allegory provides a solution. Verrall s translation will suffice to give its tenor: First Elder The beacon hath spoken fair, and the report is spreading swiftly among the folk ; but hath it spoken true? Who knows? It is indeed miraculous, if not false. Second Elder How can one be so childish, so crazed of wit, to fire with hope at a sudden message of flame, and risk the pain of altered news? Third Elder With woman s impulse it is natural to give indulgent credit before the proof. Fourth Elder She is too ready of belief, a boundary quickly passed and encroached upon ; but quick to pass away is the rumour that women cry. Here is Fraenkel: For the feelings expressed in 475 ff. [481 ff. Verrall], however natural in themselves, seem to be quite inconsistent with the tenor of the bulk of the stasimon, which is based on the certainty of the conquest of Troy... The moment which the poet has chosen for the utterance of the Elders doubts was dictated to him by considerations of dramatic structure, that is to say the need for an effectual foil to the Herald s speech. By considerations of allegoric structure would be more precise, for the Elders expression of their doubts will be essential for the function of the otherwise problem-riddled speech beginning τάχ εἰσόμεσϑα (494 ff.), the last of the epode before the Herald s opening speech which will be, as we shall now see, to call into question the validity of events on the literal plane. Are they what they seem to be, or something else entirely? 13. Lines These fourteen lines of the Chorus immediately precede the Herald s first speech. Here is the first problem therein ( ): κήρυκ ἀπ ἀκτής τόνδ ὁρῶ κατάσκιον κλάδοις ἐλαίας. μαρτυρεῖ δέ μοι κάσις πηλοῦ ξύνουρος διψία κόνις τάδε, ὡς οὔτ ἄναυδος οὔτε σοι δαίων ϕλόγα ὕλης ὀρείας σημανεῖ καπνῳ πυρός, ἀλλ ἤ τὸ χαίρειν μᾶλλον ἐκβάξει λέγων

9 Verrall comments: Yon herald comes from the shore, as I see by his shade of olive boughs ; and the thirsty dust, sister of the mire and neighbour, testifies to me this, that, not with dumb signals of fire-smoke, burning you a bonfire of wood upon a hill, but with a plain word, he will either explicitly bid us rejoice or etc. The riddle of this passage awaits solution. The question is, What dust is meant, and how does it show that the herald brings some important news which will presumably throw light upon the recent report? The conventional answers may be divided thus: (1) the dust is that which the herald raises ; this shows his haste and hence the importance of his news : (2) the dust and the mud are upon the garments of the herald (the mud being on his shoes and the dust on his clothes they are neighbours or contiguous ) ; they show that he has come a long way and so suggest that he has come from Troy (Paley). But neither of these is tolerable. As to (1), it is ridiculous to say I see that man is in haste, because he makes a dust ). Even supposing that one man running would make a noticeable dust, and that the herald is in violent haste (which there is no reason to suppose), it would still be absurd to cite the dust as evidence of the visible fact that he is running. Moreover this explanation takes no notice at all of the description sister of the mire and neighbour, which is set aside as a mere flourish but, if it has nothing to do with the subject, should rather be called mere nonsense. Paley s explanation (2) is an honest attempt to meet this last difficulty, but we need scarcely dwell on it. The dust represents in truth, as we have noted, the aura of Regulus which is now invading the dark of the night sky from below the horizon. It is κάσις πηλοῦ ξύνουρος because the aura is contiguous with the darker sky above and surrounding it. And what of κατάσκιον κλάδοις ἐλαίας? Κατάσκιος was commonly used of a hat or headpiece. Fraenkel quotes Verrall, that The herald is wreathed, as the ship itself was wreathed, in sign of gratitude to the gods for the safe conclusion of a voyage, but himself finally admits I do not know of any really cogent explanation. Aischylos was faced with a technical challenge, in that the Chorus must see the approach of the herald, whose physical body is yet not required, at this stage and in this speech, by the allegory. He answered it by making the herald visible by his crown of the young slips of olive, the correlate on the plane of allegory perhaps being olive trees down towards the shore over which the star is about to rise. Intriguingly, Peile suggests a possible translation for καπνῳ πυρός of splendour of fire or gleam of fire, which of course would be perfectly apt for the aura: Καπνῳ πυρός, Blomfield translates ignis splendoris, but gives no authority for this interpretation, which is both more spirited in itself, and more in character with the context. A more recent editor of the Agamemnon... notices a similar use of Aura amongst the Latins: e.g. luminis auras Virg. Georg. ii. 47. Aen. vii auri per ramos aura refulsit, Aen. vi which Servius interprets splendor, comparing Hor. Od. ii. 8, 24. tua ne retardet aura maritos. The etymology, we may add, of κάπνος (καπτω or καπω, το πνεω, whence καπος and καπνος, Eustath.) favours the metaphorical translation, gleam of fire, gleam of gold, beauty, &c. Verrall s gnomic judgement that sister of the mire and neighbour... should be called mere nonsense if irrelevant to the subject, could well apply also to whether, burning brands of mountain olive, he speechless signals by smoke of fire. We might well think it implausible to say the least that the herald, having alighted from the ship, would be content to convey his news by smokesignals, instead of in person. Like the dust Aischylos has him raise, it is a tenuous connexion, and the whole scenario fails by quite a margin to gel. Either the playwright has let his grip slip temporarily from the tiller, or we are missing the point of these lines. Αναυδος and καπνῳ πυρός would on the other hand be perfectly appropriate to Regulus, if we think of the smoke-fire conjunction as allegorically equivalent to the aura-burning star. But let us leave our conclusion in abeyance for a short time.

10 Fraenkel quotes Housman: σοι cannot be right ; for it is as certain as anything about Greek plays can be certain that Clytaemestra is not now on stage. 3 Housman s confidence may be misplaced here; for it would be entirely consistent with the allegory if the queen had remained all the time in silence on stage since her first appearance at 276, as the premonitory aura of the rising sun, which after all does not fade once it has become perceptible. One looks anew at ἄναυδος in the same line in light of this consideration. ἀλλ ἤ τὸ χαίρειν μᾶλλον ἐκβάξει λέγων ( but that he would rather express his greeting by speaking it ). Let us look now at the line which follows: τὸν ἀντίον δὲ τοῖσδ ἀποστέγω λόγον ( The opposite word to these I keep to myself ). It follows from everything we have noted thus far about this speech that τὸν ἀντίον λόγον is an esoteric reference to its allegorical dimension, which is the polar opposite to the facts on the literal plane. The dust is in fact light, and it shows that the Herald will in truth remain silent, like smoke shed by a fire, and will not give his salutation by speech. The following, antepenultimate, line of the speech is now seen to describe beautifully the increase of the aura until the ultimate good Regulus itself should appear: εὖ γὰρ πρὸς εὖ ϕανεῖσι προσϑήκη πέλοι. The speech closes with: ὅστις τάδ ἄλλως τῇδ ἐπεύχεται πόλει, αὐτὸς ϕρενῶν καρποῖτο τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. Καρποῖτο (καρπoω, I bear as fruit, I reap the fruits of ) is a remarkable choice of word here. It of course could be ironical, as so often in this sort of figure of speech; but it does accord beautifully with the positive nature of ἁμαρτίαν again, the esoteric meaning being the polar opposite of its literal meaning on the plane of allegory. Whoever errs in supposing a different scenario will reap rich rewards indeed. To return to the beginning of the speech, which we are now in a position correctly to interpret ( ): Τάχ εἰσόμεσϑα λαμπάδων ϕαεσϕόρων ϕρυκτωριῶν τε καὶ πυρός παραλλαγάς, εἴτ οὖν ἀληϑεῖς εἴτ ὀνειράτων δίκην τερπνὸν τόδ ἐλϑὸν ϕῶς ἐϕήλωσεν ϕρένας The opening juxtaposition of three nouns and one adjective all in the genitive has exercised the minds of the crictics. Verrall is certain: The accumulation of synonyms has a certain contemptuous effect. We shall not depend on that sort of intelligence any more. Perhaps, but the syntactical challenge remains, as recognised by Fraenkel, and here by Deniston:...but the three genitive nouns seem clumsily joined and redundant in sense. Better to take εἰσόμεσϑα as governing both the gen. λαμπάδων ( We shall soon know about the light-bearing torches ) and the accus. παραλλαγάς ( the relays of beacon-watchings and fire ). So Conington, quoted by Fraenkel, who however finds it too laboured to be convincing ; with this judgement we may well agree, and we ought perhaps therefore mark the text as corrupt. 3 Housman, J. Phil. Xvi, 1888, 265.

11 Conington s suggestion in truth sorts closely with the allegory: λαμπάδων ϕαεσϕόρων being a beautiful term for the great stars; while ϕρυκτωριῶν τε καὶ πυρός παραλλαγάς, using perfectly appropriately here a different construction with εἰσόμεσϑα, portrays the objects, symbols of the great stars, on the literal plane. They are different in construction, but ultimately one in esoteric meaning. Lines 3 and 4 of this speech above (εἴτ οὖν ἀληϑεῖς...) beautifully serve the allegory, our eye being once again directed to seek out the opposite sense: in this case, the true (ἀληϑεῖς) scenario lying in the joyous light that has come to beguile our minds as in a dream. For it is when we dwell on the beacons in the visual imagination that their symbolism becomes stark. EPEISODION II 14. Lines Let us review in sequence the structure of this episode: 1. A 35 line speech by the Herald 2. A 13 line sequence of single stichomythia (Herald and Coryphaeus) 3. A 32 line speech by the Herald. 4. A 4 line speech by the Coryphaeus 5. A 28 line speech by Clytemnestra 6. A 5 line speech by the Coryphaeus 7. A 16 line sequence of double stichomythia (Herald and coryphaeus) 8. A 45 line speech by the Herald There follows the second stasimon. Here is another instance of the high-level macro structure of the drama the mere presence of the actors on stage, and the length and timing of their speeches yoked to the astronomical allegory. In the previous speech we have seen that the aura of Regulus, now just beginning to invade the starry night from below the horizon, is linked to visual images which are independent of the person of the Herald. Here, however, it is the Herald himself who represents the aura. Thus does his opening speech flow straight from the final lines of the first stasimon. The first passage of stichomythia portrays, just as it does earlier with regard to the queen (aura of the sun producing the false dawn ), the very gradual invasion of the night sky by the aura of Regulus. Consistently, this passage is bookended by substantial speeches by the Herald. A lengthy speech by Clytemnestra is framed by the short speeches from the Chorus: the solar aura still a remarkable presence in the sky before the dawn proper, with the radiance of the stars now reduced in intensity. The double stichomythia (eight exchanges of double lines between the Herald and Chorus) indicates that the invasion is proceeding more quickly now, as Regulus itself approaches ever more closely its appearance. Finally the presence of the aura is asserted.

12 14.1 Herald s first speech In the Herald s first speech ( ), we note that the phrase he uses of Agamemnon, ϕῶς ἐν εὐϕρόνῃ ϕέρων, bearing light in the darkness (527), is of course perfectly suited to describe Regulus. Another suggestive phrase is αγωνιους ϑεους, (I salute all) the gods in Assembly (518), to which Fraenkel devotes a long exposition, dismissing gods of the market-place and gods of assembly, as offered by other commentators, to arrive at the rendering given here. Gods in Assembly would be an apt description of the great visible bodies of the night sky. The Herald s οὐ γάρ ποτ μἤκουν τῇδ ἐν Ἀργείᾳ ξϑωνὶ/ ϑανὼν μεϑέξειν ϕιλτάτου ταϕου μερος, I never expected to have a share of a blessed tomb in this land of Argos (511-12) would clearly be highly appropriate for the allegorical death to come, when aura and star alike will be engulfed by the dawning sun (Clytemnestra). In the foregoing examples the balance is weighted evenly towards literal and allegorical planes. But consider these lines with which the Herald greets the city: ἰὼ μέλαϑρα βασιλέων, ϕίλαι στέγαι, σεμνοί τε ϑᾶκοι, δαίμονης τ ἀντήλιοι, εἴ που πάλαι, ϕαιδροῖσι τοισίδ ὄμμασι δέχασϑε κόσμῳ βασιλέα πολλῷ χρόνῳ. Kennedy translates: O thou the dwelling of our kings, beloved roof, and holy seats, and ye, sun-facing deities, if e er of old, with these your eyes of happy cheer in order due receive ye the long-absent king. The principal meaning of μέλαϑρον is in fact roof or ceiling, the plural being commonly used of a dwelling (cf. tecta). Yet the primary meaning remains. And note the plural βασιλέων. Στέγαι is explicitly roofs. The primary meaning of ϑᾶκος is a chair of office, and Homer uses it of a sitting in council and hence a council. Ἀντήλιοι, opposite the sun, is invariably translated as eastwardfacing ; however, it can equally mean like the sun (formed like ἀντίτηεος, Eur.). Verrall informs us that ϕαιδροῖσι means bright both literally and in the common derived sense of glad. That is to say, the entire span of these four lines can translate naturally and without compulsion as referring to the night sky, the ceiling or roof with its holy seats of office and sun-like deities with bright eyes, immensely ancient, about to receive into their midst, on this one day of the year, Regulus, the king star First stichomythia In the sequence of thirteen single line stichomythia which follows, the Herald s first line χαίρω. τεϑνᾶναι δ οὐκ ὰντερῶ ϑεοις (544) is notable. Fraenkel, while agreeing with Verrall s judgement that This line is hopeless, concludes that the sense in general is fairly clear all the same, the more so as 550 [555 Verrall: see below] is also related to this line: Yes, I do rejoice: and I would not refuse if the gods now decreed my death [check]. This sentiment hearkens back to and also forward to 555 (below). Verrall raises the intriguing possibility that χαίρω may function as an address to the dead, and quotes in support the farewell scene between Polyxena and Hecuba (Eur.

13 Hec. 426 ff). It is a remarkable thing to say; and it of course would be utterly apt for the death of the aura which is fast approaching. Line 555 (coryphaeus) ὡς νῦν--τὸ σὸν δὴ--καὶ ϑανεῖν πολλὴ χάρις ( As you have well said, now would be a delightful time to die ) would refer, in the allegory, to the coming death of the starry sky (Chorus of Elders) in the rays of the risen sun. We now see how the Herald s χαίρω (544), as an address to the dead, would find its place in this scenario: albeit the Chorus have one foot in the grave, without yet having as yet actually died. Certainly, death has an unusually high profile in this scene set at dawn, typically a time of optimism and new beginnings Herald s second speech The significance of this speech, in which the Herald expatiates on the Argive host s suffering and privations in Troy, is to be found in its deliverance on stage, rather than details of its content. However, we may of course note here once again the central importance of fall Troy as the decline of the constellation of Ursa Major together with Thuban (α Draconis), the pole star in the Classical era in the astronomical system of the Iliad, as interpreted by Edna Leigh Coryphaeus first speech Here, the Coryphaeus νικώμενος λόγοισιν οὐκ ἀναίνομαι (588) is harmonious both on the literal and allegorical planes, implying in the latter that the stars adjacent to the strenthening aura are being extinguished. The following line ἀεὶ γὰρ ἡβᾷ τοῖς γέρουσιν εὖ μαϑεῖν ( for always it is a youthful thing for the old to learn well ) suggests that the annual helical rising of Regulus, and renewal of the cycle, keeps these immensely ancient bodies forever young Clytemnestra s speech This speech is rich with allegorical meaning. Here is Verrall s translation of the first stanza: My joy was uttered some while ago, when the first fiery messenger came in the night, telling that Ilium was taken and destroyed. Then there were some who found fault with me, and said, Art thou for a beacon persuaded to think that Troy is taken now? How like a woman s heart to fly up so high! Thus they argued, proving my error. But for all that I would sacrifice, and by womanly ordinance the townsfolk one and all took up the loud cry of holy gladness and in the sacred temples stilled with feeding incense the sacred flame. We have of course already noted why the queen (dawning sun) should feel joy on the return of Agamemnon on this particular day (heliacal rising of Regulus). But remark here again the derogation of woman in ἤ κάρτα πρὸς γυναικὸς ἄιρεσϑαι κέαρ, and Aeschylus striking use of ἄιρεσϑαι, to be hoist, to be uplifted, to be raised, &c.,a word superbly fitted to describe the rising of the sun. By womanly ordinance (γυναικείῳ νόμῳ) is also striking in this context. We may conclude from this passage that the fires lighted in the temples of Troy γυναικείῳ νόμῳ represent nothing less than the sun itself. The line ϑυηϕάγον κοιμῶντες εὐώδη ϕλόγα ( calming the incense-devouring sweet flame (i.e. as the incense is fed to it)) (602) may be taken as a beautiful description of the flame of the sun, which appears so still from earth. ϑυηϕάγον is evidently a neologism, formed by the playwright specifically to the purpose. Fraenkel agonises over these lines, concluding, How this lulling was managed, the poet refains from telling us : possibly it was done, as paley guesses, by pouring wine over the ashes. But spreading the fire moderately with incense would have the effect of partially suffocating it, leaving it more smouldering than flaming.

14 In the second stanza, the queen continues in the same vein. Her τί γὰρ/ γυναικὶ τούτου ϕέγγος ἤδιον δρακεῖν/ ἀπώ στρατείας ἄνδρα σώeσαντος ϑεοῦ/ πύλας ἀνοῖξαι ( What light is sweeter for a woman to see than this, when she opens the gates to her husband, whom the gods have delivered safe from war ) (606-9) is clearly consonant with the allegory, as identifying the king once more with light. Πύλας ἀνοῖξαι may be taken as a striking repesentation of the effect of a star as it first peeps above the horizon, as through a gate. Here, in the penultimate couplet of the queen s speech, is an image over which much critical ink has been spilt, only to leave it finally unresolved, yet for which the allegory can offer a striking explanation: οὐδ οἶδα τέρψιν οὐδ ἐπίψογον ϕάτιν ἄλλου πρὸς ἀνδρὸς μᾶλλον ἢ χαλκ υ βαϕάς. (616-7) I know of pleasure or blameworthy address from another man no more than of dyeing bronze. For Verrall, χαλκ υ βαϕάς is an unknown mystery. What is the origin of this proverb, if proverb it be? Or does it just mean an impossibility? A typically thorough Fraenkel considers then dismisses the possibility that βαϕάς might refer to tempering of a metal, where χαλκ υ could mean of iron rather than of brass. Fraenkel tenatively suggests that the allusion could be to the colouring of metal, although the hypothesis... remains based on slender grounds. But dyeing bronze makes perfect sense in light of the allegory, where the rich golden colour of bronze is a beautiful match for the glow of the sun, which has remained untainted and undimished (undyed) since Regulus last dawned directly above it. This again would appear to be an invention of Aeschylus rather than a borrowing of a pre-existing saying. The critics have allocated the final couplet of this speech τοιόσδ ὁ κόμπος, τῆς ἀληϑείας γέμων,/ οὐκ αἰσχρὸς ὡς γυναικὶ γενναίᾳ λακεῖν (618-9) to different characters. For Peile, following the MSS, it belongs to the Herald. Verrall, commenting here again is a passage defying arrangement or explanation with the received list of dramatis personae, looks forward to the next problematic speech of the chorus, and invents a second conspirator, to which Fraenkel responds: I find it difficult to take his conspirator seriously, although I feel by no means sure that the wretch will not rise again some day from his well-deserved place in Hades. Fraenkel, following Hermann, concludes that it belongs to the queen; and certainly, the allegory would favour this allocation. A boast such as this, filled with the truth, it does not misseem a noble lady to speak. Let us now proceed to the next lines, which refer back to what we have just heard from Clytemnestra s lips The Coryphaeus second speech αὔτη μὲν οὕτως εἶπε μανϑάνοντι σοι τοροῖσιν ἑρμηνεῦσιν εὐπρεπῶς λόγον. She speaks thus to you who learns from appearances, but to the true interpreters her words are specious. These first two lines of a short speech have provoked a welter of analysis. Verrall asks: Where are the commentators [ἑρμηνεῦσιν] on the queen s address to whom the elders refer? No answer so much as plausible has been suggested to this question... Whence his invention of the second conspirator. Fraenkel s reading is strained, and will not do: Probably it is best to regard the expression μανϑάνοντι... λόγον as akind of explanatory afterthought to the terse clause preceding it: she has spoken thus, to you, if you can reach understanding through clear interpreters, a speech which appears proper. Kennedy comes closer, but finds no place for a key meaning

15 ( learns from appearances ) of μανϑάνοντι : To you, a learner, thus indeed she makes her speech, to those who throughly interpret, speciously. In fact, the straightforward rendering I have given above is entirely adequate to the scene when viewed in light of the allegory. We recall the formulaic ως εκων εγω/ μαϑουσιν αυδω κου μαϑουσι ληϑομαι which closes the Watchman s speech, and which is Aeschylus direct allusion to the occult content of what has gone before. And so here, where μανϑάνοντι σοι is a direct apostrophisation of the hypothetical unitiated reader who hears only the literal content of the lines; and τοροῖσιν ἑρμηνεῦσιν an apostrophisation of the μαϑουσις of the Watchman Second stichomythia; the Herald s third speech Technically, these double-line stichmythia have a slightly different import from the single-line variant which has preceded it: the two line units indicating that the gradual invasion of the pre-dawn sky by the aura of Regulus has become more thorough now. The aura is approaching full radiance now (Herald s third speech, which will close this epeisodion). We now hear the story of the storm, and Menelaus who may or may not survived it. Edna Leigh can again throw great light on what is going on here. For Leigh has shown to a high degree of certainty that Menelaus represents, in the astronomcal system of the Iliad, the constellation Scorpius (82-3). The storm, which has all but destroyed the returning fleet, bears the allegorical value of the rays of the dawning sun, which blot out the weaker stars of the constellations, so that, in the case of Leo, only the brightest (alpha) star, namely Regulus, remains visible. The sun is indeed intimately involved with the fate of Menelaus: ἔκυρσας ὥστε τοξότης ἄκρος σκοπου (633) like a bowman you have hit the consummate mark οὐκ οἶδεν οὐδεὶς ὥστ ἀπανγγεῖλαι τορῶς, πλὴν τοῦ τρέϕοντος Ἡλίου χϑονὸς ϕύσιν. (636-7) no one can tell this plainly, save the sun which sustains the creatures of the earth. ἐπεὶ δ ἀνῆλϑε λαμπρὸν ἡλίου ϕάος ορῶμεν ἀνϑοῦν πέλαγος Αἰγᾶιον νεκροῖς and when the bright sun dawned we saw the Aegean flowering with the dead εἰ δ οὖν τις ἀκτὶς ἡλίου νιν ἱστορεῖ if then any ray of the sun discovers him In the first example, the arrow bears its immemorially ancient mythic value of a ray of the sun or moon (cf. Diana the huntress). As a spindly (Wood 82) constellation it is possible that it may all have disappeared in the sun s blaze but only the sun can know. Further, the lines ξυνώμοσαν γάρ, ὄντες ἔχϑιστοι τὸ πρίν,/ πῦρ καὶ ϑάλασσα... (655-6) are highly suggestive: for they conspired who before had been enemies, fire and sea... We shall discuss the

16 sea = night sky equation at some length below; let us accept it provisionally for now, and note also the fire = sun identity. So that πῦρ καὶ ϑάλασσα may be taken as beautifully portraying the environment of the eclipse of Scorpius. EPEISODION III Let us first outline the allegory as portrayed by the events on stage. The arrival of Agamemnon represents the first peeping of Regulus above the horizon. Clytemnestra has a key ongoing role in this episode, as the night sky remains suffused by the light of the sun in the false dawn. Aeschylus will not mark the precise moment of the first appearance of the sun, but Agamemnon s disappearance inside the palace, the scene of his murder, will portray the engulfing of Regulus by its the strengthening radiance. The completion of the dawning of Regulus, so that all of it now lies above the horizon, will be marked by the descent of the king from the chariot. The length of his speeches, and that of Clytemnestra, together with his initial refusal to descend to tread the purple carpet, express the prolonged character of this dawning. The carpet s colour identifies it as representing the sky, which is now a band between the horizon and the star, the gradual increase in width of which is portrayed in Agamemnon s walking along it into the palace, until finally it disappears into the solar aura. Passages of stichomythia describe in their interchange of single lines the slow penetration of the one principle (night sky in the false dawn) by the other (light of Regulus). The presence of Cassandra in the chariot alongside Agamemnon is, as we have seen, an expression of the ancients awareness of the nature of Regulus as binary star. Hence she hesitates, as did the king, before alighting from the chariot; while her prophetic knowledge of Agamemnon s murder inside the palace reflects the fact that she is, on the plane of allegory, being murdered alongside and precisely contemporaneously with him. 15. Lines : Agamemnon s first speech. Aeschylus has the king begin by thanking the gods as principle sponsors of the quest against Troy. They voted not by speech, but by casting a pebble: ἐς αἱματηρόν τεῦχος οὑ διχορρόπως ψήϕους ἔϑεντο τῷ δ ἐναντίῳ κύτει ἐλπὶς προσήει χειρὸς οὐ πληρουμένῳ. Unwaveringly they cast their votes into the blood-bringing urn, but the hope only of a hand passed above the opposite urn which failed to fill. There are three features here worthy of notice: The gods are the principal sponsors; they voted in silence; and they voted Yes by casting stones into an urn. The gods role here is consistent with the astronomical nature of the changing of the pole star. We have remarked above (35, 275) the significance in this play of silence as an attribute of the visible bodies of the sky. Finally, the gods method of voting recalls the casting of dice, to the key astronomical mythico-symbolic significance of which the Watchman has alluded (32-3). The king acknowledges the lengthiness of his address to the gods: ϑεοῖς μὲν ἐχέτεινα ϕροίμιον τόδε (820). Just so will he refer to the queen s opening speech to him: μακρὰν γὰρ ἐχέτεινας (907). They are drawn out for a purpose, which is to suggest the massive presence of the star and the sun, and creeping prolongation of the dawning of the former. The fall of Troy represents the gradual setting below the horizon of the constellation of Canis Major, which had formerly been prominent throughout the night at the celestial north pole,

17 consequent on the phenomenon of the precession of the equinoxes. Now the new pole star would be Polaris, supplanting Thuban (α-draconis), of which Canis Major had been a marker. The imagery Aeschylus employs here portrays this scenario. We have seen ( ) that fire in this play can represent the star or sun, the smoke its aura. Αnd just so here, where the fire is now reduced to embers with the setting of the constellation: καπνῷ δ ἁλοῦσα νῦν ἔτ εὕσημος πόλις. ἄτης ϑυηλλαὶ ζῶσι συνϑνῄσκουσα δὲ σποδὸς προπέμπει πίονας πλούτου πνοάς. By smoke the captured town now is signified. The gusts of its ruin are alive. The dying embers send forth reek of wealth. (809-11) The king s speech continues to be highly suggestive. His complaint about the disloyalty of his generals with the exception of Odysseus could well refer to the dimming of the stars in the light of the dawning sun. The king s confession that he knows ὁμιλίας κάτοπτρον, εἴδωλον σκιᾶς (830) is of course appropriate on the literal plane, but could plausibly also refer to the generals natures as star-symbols, and hence themselves a mere reflexion of companionship, a phantom of a shadow. Odysseus alone remains faithful. He represents, in Leigh s interpretation of the Iliad, Arcturus, the alpha star of the constellation Boetes, and so he quite plausibly in this context would remain unextinguished in the sun. But one suspects, from Agamemnon s emphasis on the yoking of Odysseus and himself (ζευχϑεὶς ἕτοιμος ἦν ἐμοὶ σειραϕόρος (833)), that an astronomical effect unidentifiable at this point is being referred to here. 16. Lines : Clytemnestra s first speech This is, again, a lengthy speech, for reasons why we have seen. The queen s words here are full of occult significance: καὶ τραυμάτων μὲν εἰ τόσων ἐτύγκανεν ἀνὴρ ὅδ, ὡς πρὸς οἶχον ὠχετεύετο ϕάτις, τέτρηται δικτύου πλέω λέγειν εἰ δ ἦν τεϑμηκώς, ὡς ἐπλήϑυνον λόγοι, τρισώματός τἂν Γηρυὼν ὁ δεύτερος πολλὴν--ἄνωϑεν, τὴν κάτω γὰρ οὐ λεγώ-- χϑονὸς τρίμοιρον χλαῖναν ἐξηύχει λαβών, ἅπαξ ἐκάστῳ κατϑανὼν μορϕώματι. As for wounds, if my lord was wounded as often as the conduits of fame brought news of it, he hath holes in him more in number than a net. And had he died, as report thereof multiplied, he might, with three bodies like another Geryon, have boasted many times three not beds, but coverlets rather of earth taken on to him, if he had one death for each of his shapes (Verrall). (857-64). This identification of the notionally wounded king with a net of course anticipates the murder scene, wherein the net will bear, as here, a highly significant allegorical value, as we shall see. Of most interest here is however the reference to triple-bodied Geryon, and the specific and decidedly odd description of the king s death not beds, but coverlets rather of earth taken on to him. For Regulus is in fact, as we have seen, a triple star albeit Aeschylus combines Regulus B and Regulus C in the person of Cassandra, just as in nature an amateur telescope can distinguish two

18 stars, the second of which is, on closer inspection, istelf a binary system. The mode of burial here might be a beautiful description of the notional sinking of Regulus A-B-C below the horizon, so that the earth masks but does not actually enclose it, as it might for example a volcano or thermal spring. The queen commands the purple be laid (a band of sky to appear); and there is delay on the part of the slaves, with further hesitation to come from Agamemnon: so slow and prolonged is the process of dawning of a star or the sun. 17. Lines : Agamemnon s second speech Here is another powerful identification of the heliacal rising of Regulus with the Goddess-oriented East. Agamemnon protests that to tread the purple path would be womanish and contemptible; yet he will of course soon tergiversate on this resolution, while yet his obloquy will not be unsaid: (909-13) καὶ τἄλλα μὴ γυναικὸς ἐν τρόποις ἐμὲ ἅβρυνε, μηδὲ βαρβάρου ϕωτὸς δίκην χαμαιπετὲς βόαμα προσχάνῃς ἐμοί, μηδ εἵμασι στρώσασ επίϕϑονον πόρον τίϑει. For the rest, offer no womanish luxuries to me, nor before me, as before a king of the East, grovel with open-mouthed acclaim, nor with vestures strown draw jealous eyes upon my path. (Verrall) 18. Lines : Stichomythia Clytemnestra tries to persuade successfully, as we shall see the king to alight from his car and tread the purple path she has strown. Aeschylus intended the single-line stichomythia to suggest gradual interpenetration: this time of the false (pre-) dawn sky by the body of Regulus. 19. Lines : Agamemnon s third speech; Clytemnestra s second speech Agamemnon descends from the chariot, taking care to commend Cassandra (Regulus B-C) to the queen. She welcomes him with a speech, every word of which is full of allegoric import: (949-58) ἔστιν ϑάλασσα, τίς δέ νιν κατασβέσει ; τρέϕουσα πολλῆς πορϕύρας ἰσάργυρον κηκῖδα παγκαίνιστον, εἱμάτων βαϕάς. οἶκος δ ὑπάρχει τῶνδε σὺν ϑεοῖς ἅλις ἔχειν πένεσϑαι δ οὐκ ἐπίσταται δόμος. πολλῶν πατησμὸν δ εἱμάτων ἂν ηὐξάμην, δόμοισι προυνεχϑέντος ἐν χρηστηρίοις ψυχῆς κόμιστρα τῆσδε μηχαμωμένῃ. ῥίζης γὰρ οὔσης ϕυλλὰς ἵκετ ἐς δόμους, σκιὰν ὑπερτείνασα σειρίου κυνός. καὶ σοῦ μολόντος δωματῖτιν ἑστίαν, ϑάλπος μὲν ἐν χειμῶνι σημαίνεις μολών ὅταν δὲ τεύχε Ζεὺς ἀπ ὅμϕακος πικρᾶς οἶνον, τότ ἤδη ψῦχος ἐν δόμοις πέλει ἀνδρὸς τελείου δῶμ ἐπιστρωϕωμενου. Ζεῦ Ζεῦ τέλειε, τὰς ἐμὰς εὐχὰς τέλει μέλοι δέ τοι σοὶ τῶνπερ ἂν μέλλῃς τελεῖν.

19 There is a sea and who can drain it dry? feeding with store of purple an ever-renewing ooze, dyer of garments, which is worth its weight in silver. The house begins to have of it together with the gods, and it does not stand in poverty of it. I had prayed for a treading of many garments, had it been proposed to me in some temple of divination, when I was preparing a ransom for your life. For the bed of leaves is first a root, which then comes over the house, spreading a shade against the dog star. For when you return to hearth and home, you signal that warmth is coming in winter. And whenever Zeus makes wine of the unripe bitter grapes, then already cool is in the house, when the man of authority is now walking its halls. Zeus, Zeus the accomplisher, bring these my prayers to fruition, and let your providence do even as you will. Here is Verrall on this memorable and highly poetic speech: There is purple enough in the sea, and enough within. As the king proceeds to the door along the path with its crimson ποικίλματα, it is to the eye of the queen, who foresees the εἱμάτων βαϕάς that are to follow within (v. 1382), as though already he walked in blood. There is also in the mere sound and imagery of the opening verse the feeling of her hatred, deep, cruel, and inexhaustible. But no commentary can exhaust the significance of this marvellous scene, which for spectacular writing, if the phrase may be used, has probably never been rivalled. This last sentence may at least be correct. But there is a problem with Verrall s analysis of the opening lines. The image is of the sea, which can never resemble fresh blood in colour. Aeschylus, continuing the Homeric usage of purple in regard to the sea, specifically names this rather than any shade of red as the colour. Neither can blood spurting or even just flowing from a wound be described as ooze, nor as ever-renewing. The image seems overall more than a little ill-fitted to the purpose, and not to the standard we would expect from the playwright. The speech as a whole has a grandeur which does not quite sort with its theme on the literal plane, namely the hate-filled anticipation of a murderess. On the other hand, the sea bears in Homer, according to Leigh s scheme, the allegoric value of the sky. And everything in this speech, down to its finest detail, falls into place when we assign to it this value. The dawn sky is indeed everrenewing and slowly establishes itself like an ooze. It is worth its weight in silver in that it is the alter ego of the night sky silver is typically the mytho-symbolic colour of the moon, and we may extend this to the visible bodies of the hight sky, stars and planets included. Aeschylus uses here the word ὑπάρχει, the primary meaning of which is begins. Yet Verrall shuns this sense in favour of the meaning there is, there exists : And we have, O king, I trust, a chamber of such from which to take thereof... Similarly, Kennedy has of such things by the favour of the gods, O king, our house hath ample store... Peile renders it thus: And there is a houseful of these things for us, with permission of the gods, O king, to keep; and what poverty means the family knows not. Taking ὑπάρχει in a similar way, Fraenkel points out that οἶκος must now be problematic: It has long been realized that the MS reading cannot be retained... οἶκος ὑπάρχει ἔχειν could only mean either the house is there to have or hold something or the house is there for someone to hold. Porson s οἶκοις is satisfactory and probably correct. And so on. Yet the given οἶκος ὑπάρχει ἔχειν rendered as the house begins to have is perfectly consonant with the occult content of this sentence: for it is the time of the inception of day. Significantly, another great star which had a heliacal rising, namely Sirius, the dog star, appears here in the lines ῥίζης γὰρ οὔσης ϕυλλὰς ἵκετ ἐς δόμους,/ σκιὰν ὑπερτείνασα σειρίου κυνός. The

20 root is generally taken to refer to the life of Agamemnon which the queen has mentioned in the previous line. But it is another odd image. Why, if σκιὰν means shade, would any house require shade against a star? Unless it be at its heliacal rising, which occurs on only one day of the year, in the case of Sirius in mid-july in Hellenistic times. Yet in the following lines Aeschylus insists on the king s identification with early winter, not before but some time after the heliacal rising Sirius. Or why, if σκιὰν means shadow, would the playwright name Sirius as illuminator of the house, now shadowed by the vine, when the moon would have been more appropriate, as being many orders of magnitude more brilliant than the brightest star? All becomes clear if we read γὰρ to refer to the queen s activity, described in the immediately preceding lines, of commissioning new purpledyed vestures. For it is the dawning sun that paints the sky in purple, after its night journey in black and silver. The image sorts beautifully with its occult theme of the gradual perfusion, from below to above, of the sky with the sun s rays, until even the dog star, one of the brightest in the heavens, is outshone and masked. ϑάλπος μὲν ἐν χειμῶνι is entirely consistent with the time of the heliacal rising of Regulus in early winter; as is, in another way, ψῦχος ἐν δόμοις, after the heat of summer when the wine is matured from the unripe grapes. Fascinatingly, Aeschylus may have been thinking here of an Egyptian hymn. This would of course be consonant with the allegoric identity of the Watchman as the Egyptian Sphinx. Here is Fraenkel: Therefore the comparison drawn later (Hermes, lxii, 1927, 287 f.) by Wilamowitz with the ancient Egyptian song to Sesostris III (A. Erman, Die Literatur der Aegypter, 180 f.) is wholly apposite. The relevant section of that hymn runs: How great... is the lord to his city; he alone is a million... he is like a dike, which holds off teh river in flood... like a cool house which lets a man sleep on into the daytime... a bulwark which protects the fearful from his enemy... the shadow of the flooding season to bring coolness in summer... a warm, dry, corner in the winter...a mountain that holds off the storm, at teh time of heaven s fury... he is like Sechmet [ a goddess of war] towards the enemies who cross his borders. I have not omitted a single comparison, in order to show that every one is concerned with protection and defence. This makes the similarity to the Agamemnon passage much greater even than Wilamowitz noticed... However, there is no need to follow W. Kranz, Stasimon, 102, 294, in supposing that Aeschylus was indebted to some definite Egyptian panegyrics. On the contrary, the likelihood that Aeschylus was indeed thinking of the Egyptian hymn increases when we consider that Sesostris III was pharoah of Egypt from BCE, and was one of the few kings to be deified in his lifetime. That is, he would have been readily available to the playwright as an incarnation of Regulus. STASIMON III 20. Lines A relatively brief choric ode, and of little value, so one might think, to this investigation. And yet, certain words and concepts in the following lines (966-8; 973-9) arrest our attention: τίπτε μοι τόδ ἐμπέδως δεῖγμα προστατήριον καρδίας τετρασκόπου ποτᾶται...

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